KARACHI: While the Sindh government is set to take over the federal-government-funded Green Line bus service, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) administration made it clear on Friday that it would “review” the Rs2 billion annual subsidy being given by Islamabad to the people of Karachi, which makes it one of the cheapest public transport facilities in the country.

The formal announcement of the takeover of the Green Line was made by Sindh Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon who, while chairing a meeting of the department, was confident that the provincial administration was “fully prepared” to assume control of the BRT operation.

“The federal government will transfer the Green Line Bus Service to the Sindh government in December,” a statement issued after the meeting quoted the minister as saying.

“The Sindh government has finalised preparations to assume control of the Green Line’s operations. The federal government is currently providing an annual subsidy of Rs 2 billion for the operations of Green Line, which the Sindh government will review.”

Sharjeel says govt will review Rs2bn annual subsidy being given by Islamabad for BRT project

The officials say under the terms of reference of the project, it had been decided that the federal government after building and operating the project for three years would hand it over to the provincial government.

While making claims about increasing the number of buses of the Green Line BRT, the Sindh government is still uncertain about the fate of subsidy being offered by the federal government to the people of Karachi.

“After the transfer of the Green Line project from the federal government to the Sindh government, additional buses will be introduced to enhance the efficiency and quality of transport services for citizens,” the statement said referring to discussions of the meeting chaired by the minister.

“The public has experienced significant relief due to the ongoing public transport projects initiated by the Sindh government. Public transport has been a long-standing issue in Karachi, and we aim to improve the system as much as possible to provide maximum convenience and relief to the citizens.”

Sources at the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (SIDCL) — a public limited company set up to carry on the business of infrastructure development and build and operate the project — say that the transfer of operational control to the Sindh government will allow the provincial administration to open “new avenues of revenue generation” through Green Line BRT, which was not allowed under the federal control.

“For instance non-fare revenue can be generated using buses for advertisements or branding stations of the service under contracts with different commercial or business organisations,” said a source.

“The subsidy being offered by the federal government is actually keeping the fare low ranging from Rs15 to Rs55 per passenger. On an average 50,000 to 55,000 people move on 80 buses of the project on weekdays and the number sometimes swells to 60,000 during weekends.”

Meanwhile at the meeting a detailed discussions were held on the plan to connect the Green Line with the Orange Line project.

During the meeting, the statement added that Mr Memon issued directives for swift completion of connecting the Green Line with the Orange Line.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2024